Portable elevator



E. N. HESCOCK AND E. F. SMITH.

PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

APPLxcmoN man SEPT. 2o, 191s.

Patented June 22, 1920.

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E. N. HESCOCK AND E. F. SMITH.

PORTABLE ELEVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2o, 191s.

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ETHAN N. HEscocK, oF WESTEIELD, NEW JERSEY, AND ERNEST E. SMITH, or Woon- HAVEN, NEW YORK, AssIGNoRs To NEwJERsEY EoUNDRY AND MACHINE cort- PANY, A CORPORATION 0E NEW JERSEY.

PORTABLE ELEVATOB.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 22, 1920.

Application filed September 20, 1918. Serial No. 254,895.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known thatwe, ETHAN N. HEscocK,

a citizen of the United States, and a resi-k dent of lVestlield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, and ERNEST F. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Woodhaven, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have jointly invented a new and useful Improvement in Portable Elevators, of Which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to portable elevators which are used yto stack bags, bales, boxes, barrels, rolls, bundles, textiles, leather, tobacco, or any material. Such portable elevators are moved from Vplace to place on the floor of the wharf, warehouse, factory or other building where it is desirable to stack the material.

For the purpose of more readily describing our invention we have shown it in connection withthe accompanying drawing, in which the same reference numerals refer to similar lparts inthe several figures.

- Figure 1 is a side elevation of our portable elevator showing the platform elevated.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section, substantially on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows. v

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation 011 a large scale, partly broken away.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation partly broken away, and certain elements being omitted for clearer illustration.

Fig. 5 is a rear elevation, similar to Fig. 4, but showing the additional supporting members in their operative position.

Fig. 6 is anenlarged detailview of the friction disk type of brake preferably em-` ployed with its connections;

Fig. 7 is a detailfview of the p'awl.

To more readily turn and maneuver such portable elevators it is the common practice to support them an three traction wheels of which one is -swiveled The arrangement usually employed is to have two wheels mounted tosupport one end of the portable elevator, the other end ofthe elevator, be-

ing supported bythe swivel wheel, which is usually mounted in alinement with the longitudinal axis of the elevator.

While this arrangement of supporting wheels has many advantagesl permitting easy manipulation of the portable elevator upon the floor of the warehouse or other location wherever it is used it has the disadvantage of making the elevator unstable. When the platform of the elevator 1s raised, as shown for example in Fig. 1, a careless operator is apt to make the plat-4 form wabble or move at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the elevator.

A slight transverse movement of the elevator frame near the supporting wheels, will be accentuated on the elevator platform when in its raised position. A careless operator might cause the load 1 to fall from the platform 2, or the operator himself might slip or fall from the unstable platform.

kBy our invention we insure that the platform 2 will always be stable even though the elevator has but three traction wheels,l

tion with the portable elevator having the frame 4, traction wheels 5, and a swivel traction wheel 6 pivoted at 7 on the support 8. The elevator is provided with a vertical support or guide 9 upon which moves the plaform 2 by operating the rope, or other llexible connection 10y one end of which is secured at 11 to the platform 2 and then passes around the pulley 12k to' the winding drum 18. This winding drum is operated by a crank 14, `and pinions 15, 16, 17, and 18. The druln 13 is mounted upon the same axle 19 as is the pinion 18. The hoisting mechanism is alsofprovided with a brake 20. The hoisting mechanism, so far described, is no part of our invention as any suitable hoisting mechanism may be used. The brake 20 is `preferably of the lVeston friction disk type. The platform 2 and load 1 are held automatically in any position and are controlled by thehand-crank 14. Releasing pressure on this crank 14 locks disk brake 2O in the manner well understood in the art. f

Ve have shown in Fig. 6 one type of fric-- tion brake disk which we preferably employ. The'brake wheel 2O is provided on its periphery with ratchet teeth 21 which en gage with a pawl 51 pivotally mounted on the bushing 52 carried by the frame This brake wheel 20 is loosely mounted on the axle 54 which is carried by the frame 58 and 55.

n Fast on this axle 54 is mounted the gear wheel 1G. Secured also to this axle is the collar 5G as by means of the'pin 57. This collar has cams 58, 58 which engage with the coperating cams 59, 59 carried by the loosely mounted gear wheel 17. This gear wheel 17, on the side opposite from the cams, has a friction hub or surface 60 which is fast to it.

On the opposte side of the brake wheel 20, we mount a collar 61 held fast on the axle 54 by means of the pin 62. The brake wheel 20 is preferably cut away or recessed to receive loosely mounted friction disks 68, G3 one on each side of the brake wheel 20.

In raising a load by operating the crank 14, the gear 16 is caused to rotate and with it the axle 54 and collar 56. The shoulders of the cams 58, 58 on the collar 5G and the shoulders of the cams 59, 59 on the loose gear wheel 17 will engage and cause this gear wheel to rotate with the shaft 54 and hence transmit power to the gear wheel 18 to operate the drum 13. In this operation the slight friction of the collar 61 and friction hub GO and friction disks G3, 63 will cause the brake wheel 2O to rotate idly under the pawl 51.

When the power is released from the crank 14 the action is then automatically reversed. The load then tends to operate the brake mechanism and `connections just described. The load, in seeking` to fall, will reverse the rotation of the gear 18 which in turn will reverse the direction of rotation of the loose gear wheel 17. This will cause the cams 58, 58 and 59, 59 to move slightly on each other as shown in Fig. G. This action causes the loose gear wheel 17, with its friction hub or surface GO to move slightly to the right of Fig. 6 and carry with it the loose brake wheel 20. This lateral move ment is arrested by the friction collar 61 fast on the shaft 54. Further rotation, or attempted rotation in this direction, of the gear wheels 18 and 17 will be prevented byl the pawl 51 engaging with the teeth 50 of the brake wheel 2O preventing further retrograde movement of the gear wheels 17 and 18. The load will therefore be held automatically in its elevated position.

To lower the platform or load it is only necessary to control the crank 14 so as to control the cams 58, 58 and 59, 59. By operating the crank in the proper manner suiiicient pressure is thrown upon the friction surfacesGO and 61 and brake disks 63, G3 so that the gears 17 and 18 will be permitted, under control, to lower the platform or load. During this oper-ation lthe brake wheeel 20 is held from rotationv by the pawl 51 and is clamped more or less firmly bythe rotating friction members 60, 61 and disks 63, 63. Upon again operatinur the crank 14 to raise the platform or load the brake wheel 20 will again rotate under the pawl 51.

Ve have shown our improvement cooperating with a movablepart of the hoisting mechanism so that the platform2 cannot beraised without our safety attachment, being first Vbrought into operative position. For purposes of illustration -we'have shown our improvement coperating with the brake. We provide the periphery of the brake 20 with ratchet teeth 21. VOn the strut 22 of the frame we mount a support 23 upon which is pivoted a lever-24 having ratchet teeth 25--25 which are adapted to copcrate with the teeth 21 on the brake when the Ydevice is in its inoperative position as shown in Fig. 4. Upon the lever-24 andupon the same pivot 26 we pivotally mount the supplemental safety supporting means which in the form shown are legs which pass through slightly enlargedopenings 29-29 in the cross piece 30 of the frame. y

W'hen it is desired to move the portable elevator, by pulling it-around by'the handle 82, the lever 24 is raised to remove the ends of the legs -28w28 from contact with the floor. This, however, will bring the teeth 25-25 on the lever 24 into contact with the teeth 21 on the brake of the hoisting mechanism. To keep the parts in this position we mount a plate 33 on the frame so that the lever 24 rests on the top of it`whenfthe parts are as Shown in'Fig. 4.

After the elevator has been brought into its new position, ready to stack other articles, it is impossible toioperate the hoisting mechanism to raise theplatform 2 asilong 4as the ratchet teeth on the lever A24 are in engagement with the'teeth21 upon the brake of the hoisting mechanism. This will require that the operator, however careless he may be, rst release the lever 24 from engagement with the teeth 21. In doingthis however, he will automatically force the ends of the legs 28-28 into contact with the floor which insures that the elevator frame will besupported at its four corners, in addition to the support of the swivel wheel 6. This gives a firm and rigid support for the elevator and preventsthe tipping or Wabblingof the platform -2 lwhichfoften leads to serious results.

The `pressure of the legs is such that'they do not cut or mar thelloor. To `insure the legs 28-28 being held on theloor` the lever 24 is provided with a vtooth 35 which cooperates with one of the teeth 36 of the plate 33.

The particular form of additional supporting means shown by Way of example, but to Which our invention is, of course, not to be conned, includes the supporting legs and the means to operate them.

Having thus described this invention in connection With an illustrative embodiment thereof to the details of which I do not desire to be limited, What is claimed as new and What it is desired to secure by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

That I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. In portable elevators the combination of a movable elevator, means to support said elevator on the floor, hoist mechanism, vertically movable additional supporting members, means to control the movement of said members said means adapted to coperate with the hoist mechanism to loclr and release the hoist mechanism.

2. In portable elevators the combination of a movable elevator, means to support said elevator on the lloor, hoist mechanism, vertically movable additional supportingmembers, means to control the movement of said members said means cooperating With and locking the hoist mechanism in the inoperative position of the additional supporting members.

3. In portable elevators the combination of a movable elevator, traction Wheels supporting the elevator in an unstable condition, and means carried by the elevator and adapted to coperate with the hoisting mechanism to securely support the elevator in a stable condition and to lock and release the hoist mechanism.

4. In portable elevators the combination of a movable elevator, traction wheels supporting the elevator in an unstable condition, and means carried by the elevator and coperating With and locking the hoisting mechanism in its inoperative position and in its operative position adapted to secure and support the elevator in a stable condition.

5. In portable elevators the combination of a movable elevator, means to support said elevator on the floor, hoist mechanism, and additional supporting means coperating to lock and release the hoist mechanism.

6. In a portable elevator the combination of a movable elevator having three supporting Wheels, hoisting mechanism, andadditional supporting means interlocking in its inoperative position with the hoisting mechanism, and in its operative position engaging With the floor or ground.

7. In a portable elevator the combination of a movable elevator, means to support said elevator 011 the floor, a hoist mechanism including a brake andl clutch and additional supporting means adapted in its inoperative position to coperate with the brake and clutchto prevent the operation of the hoist mechanism, and in its operative position to support the movable elevator in a stable condition. f

ETHAN N. HESCOCK. ERNEST F. SMITH.

Witnesses l FRED J.y SPUNGHORN, Jr., REUBEN IRWIN. 

